Trumbull rallies to beat Wilton

Ryan Lacey

Updated 1:03 am, Saturday, October 26, 2013

WILTON -- While Trumbull's Nick Roberts and Wilton's Brett Phillips are quarterbacks with two completely different styles, the duo put on a fabulous show Friday at Fujitani field.

Whether it was Roberts throwing -- completing 29-of-46 passes for 510 yards and four touchdowns -- or Phillips running -- 27 times for 328 yards -- one had to outdo the other in order to come away with a crucial win.

Turned out the biggest play of the night occurred with both stars on the turf at the same time.

Roberts' final pass of the night deflected off Phillips' hands and into the grateful arms of receiver T.J. Hayduk in the end zone with 30.5 seconds left as Trumbull rallied from a 28-19 deficit with 2:31 remaining to defeat Wilton 32-28 and remain undefeated in the FCIAC.

"The ball bounced right off (Phillips); it was a slant and (Hayduk) just followed it," bewildered Eagles coach Bob Maffei said after his team survived a wild game for the second straight week. "That's how we drew it up."

After Phillips ran for a 33-yard score on third down to give Wilton a two-score lead with 2:31 left, Roberts and the Eagles immediately responded. Roberts found Liam Moore and Quentin Brunetti for long completions before Marc Cesare found the end zone from a yard out.

"With this offense, we can generate offense in a hurry," Maffei said.

Trumbull recovered the ensuing onside kick and took less than a minute to find the end zone again -- even if there was a fortuitous bounce involved.

"(Phillips) is going to beat himself up for the last few things that happened, but we're not in this game without him," Wilton coach Bruce Cunningham said. "I'm glad he's on my side. I'll take him on my side every time."

Roberts, who had 199 yards passing in the third quarter alone, threw two touchdown passes to Hayduk and one each to Brunetti and Eric Anderson. Cesare was a force on the ground and in the air, accounting for over 200 yards from scrimmage.

"The ball usually gets distributed very evenly around those four guys," Maffei said. "(Roberts) spreads it around; he reads the coverage and throws to the open guy. He's been in this offense for three years and has mastered it."

Phillips carried 19 times in the second half attempting to wear down the Trumbull defense. Six of the seven plays called on the penultimate drive that gave Wilton a 28-19 lead were quarterback draws.

"We had to be able to run the ball to control the clock and keep it away from (Roberts)," Cunningham said. "And we did."

The dynamic Eagles offense, which scored 50 points in its last game against Greenwich, had over 650 yards of offense, but struggled to find the end zone early.

"We knew we were going to give up yards and that was that," Cunningham said. "We couldn't let (Trumbull) throw the ball down the field. We were going to bend but not break."

Trumbull, which didn't punt Friday, failed to score on its first five possessions despite reaching the red zone on each one.

"Balls were bouncing off people, Wilton tightened their coverage down there," Maffei said. "We had our opportunities in the beginning of the game and they just tightened up in the red zone and we couldn't get a score. They are a good team, give them credit."